Mr Styant-Browne, a partner at Slater and Gordon, said the judge's comments
and jury verdict helped with the huge civil claim and in establishing liability.

"We don't need an apology from Esso to prove liability," he said.
"The case is a very strong one. They've been beaten once in the royal
commission, they've lost before a jury, they'll lose again in a class action."

Justice Cummins said Esso's dereliction of duty had led to two workers being
killed and eight seriously injured and the company had tried to hide what
happened.

The judge said the explosion, which left Victorians without gas supplies
for two weeks, had been the result of serious safety breaches.

None of the workers or supervisors had been aware of the danger lurking
at the gas plant.

There had been a lack of training, safety systems, and procedures to deal
with a major emergency.

"The events of September 25, 1998, were the responsibility of Esso,
no one else," Justice Cummins said.

"Their cause was grievous, foreseeable and avoidable. Their consequences
were grievous, tragic and avoidable.

"What occurred at gas plant one was no mere accident. To use the term
'accident' denotes a lack of understanding of the responsibility (of Esso)
and lack of understanding of the case."

Esso was found guilty by a Supreme Court jury last month of 11 criminal
charges of breaching the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Two workers,
Peter Wilson and John Lowery died at Longford.

Each charge carried a maximum penalty of $250,000 and the judge imposed
the maximum on two of the counts.

He also imposed extra fines of $50,000 on four charges because the company
had prior health and safety convictions.

The total fine of $2 million was a record for health and safety charges
in Australia.

Justice Cummins singled out several workers for praise, including control
panel operator Jim Ward, who was blamed by Esso at the royal commission
for the explosion.

"Mr Ward and the other employees did not fail ­ Esso failed,"
said the judge. "These tragic events will always live with these decent,
impressive and brave men."

The remorse shown by Mr Olsen and other Esso executives was genuine, said
Justice Cummins, but it had not been translated into reality by the company.

The judge said Esso tried to blame its workers and during the trial tried
to hide what happened by putting forward a convoluted and obscure scenario.

Esso was also guilty, he said, of a lamentable inability to accept responsibility
and showed a lack of remorse.

"Esso's failure still to accept responsibility for these tragic events
is a serious deficiency," Justice Cummins said.

Australian Workers Union state secretary Bill Shorten described the $2 million
fine as a speeding ticket to Esso and said it was clear Esso had tried to
blame Mr Ward and others during the royal commission.

"The judge made it very clear that their strategy of blaming the operators
was lamentable and indeed influenced in the severity of the fines which
they received," Mr Shorten said.

He said the sentence would allow Esso's workers to "put this tragic,
unnecessary, wasteful incident behind them".

Premier Steve Bracks said the judgment would give Longford workers involved
some comfort.

WorkCover chief executive Bill Mountford said the decision underlined the
responsibility on employers to train their workforces.

"The courts and the community are very serious about enforcing these
obligations," he said.